Flexible belt



M 5, 1949. w. c. SUTTON- 2,475,264

FLEXIBLE BELT Filed March 20, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet l Walter C. Sui-ton F/G. 5 5r Arrow/vex July 5, 1949. w. c. SUTTON 2,475,264

FLEXIBLE BELT Filed March 20, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 //v v5- TOR WalterCSuifon C. M (a,

ATm/u/EY Patented July 5, 1949 Walter" C. .Sutton shaker s; YOhiO; assign to The S. K. Wellman Gompainy, Gleveland," hio,-a corporation of Ohio AipplicafiuflMaroh 20, 19443-Serial No. 527,215

Thislv invention relates to as new and improved flexible belt or chain which is& provided with frictionsuniaces at the: sides thereof for engagement with a machine element such as. alpulley'. The improvedrbelt isadapted= to be used. as a friction drivingmember orfas a'braking: member to slow down the rotation. of: machine elements.

Rubber; leather, and: other. nonmeta-llic belts: have-longi been" used as driving and braking elements in:- machinery: andtl-ieadvent of the socalled vf-beltzhas greatly increased-their applicanon. These nonmetailic: belts: have: certain disadvantages however in that they are oflimitedloa'd carrying capacity: and arer liable to; stretch in use requiring oonstanti adjustment. Further-- more; it has notlbeen: found practical to use such nonmetallicr- V-belts as? braking: members to slow: down and StOlfiI'Iitafing; elements.

The presentiinve'ntionaaims toproduceaV-belt of metallic CQIlStIIlCtiOIll that zwill carry heavy-5" l'oadsand canbe usedxeitlien as a: driving, or as a braking: element:-

It' i's' therefore an objeotofthe'present invention: toproduce: an new and; improvedfiexible belt of metallic: construction: that: is" adapted' to sustaine relatively heavy drivingLand: braking-L loads and-- yet: one that isreadilwand economically produced;

It is a-furthe'r object of my invention to produce: arr easilyr applied attachment fora'flexible" chains: so that they can be' used as;a1V-belt driving: or braking member;

Other and furtherrobjectsswill:beiapparent from the following; description taken in-' conjunctioir with the a'ocDmpanyiriE drawings inwhieh:

Fig: ll-shows' aipl-anview 'of a conventionalrollen chain provided with the attachments: of my in-- vention;

Fi'gi 2 is-'= a1 verticaltsectiont on line 2'--*2= of Fig; 1;

Fig; 3": a"- sectional: View on: line 3-"--3':: of the roller chain of Fig; 2- but: showing the samein position on a V'-pul1ey;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view: of f the attachment;

Fig; 5 is a side vieW- of th'e' 'attaehmentwithathei rollers of the chainsliown in 'dotted' lines';.

Fig: 6- is'a 1an'view of a riiodified form of roller chaini' Fig-i 7 is' ai -side elevation of 1 1 9.

Fig. 8 is a plan view of a further modificatiomi and Fig; 9 is; a -se'ction on 'linei-w-a of Fig: 8. l

Referring now to th drawings in which like numerals are used to designate like' parts;iniFigsz and I liave' generally de'sienated w conven 4% Claims. (Cl. 74 236) generally at" 2:

2 The chain" i's made up of pairs of outside link plates 3 and" pairs of inside linli' plates 4 joined by' the usual pins 6' which also carry therollers' 'iz Normally a-thin bus'hi'ng is disposed betweeh -eaclflroller' and pin; butthisha's been omitted in order to" avoid' confusion in the drawings; As is well=know'n', the connected pai'rs of outside links 3 and inside links 2* together with the' pirist and rollers 1 cooperateto form a-c'hain that: is capable (if-flexible movementin a plane at: right angles to thepins" 6, the* rollers 1 being spaced apartito providefor the-reception oi thefteethof 83-SDIOCREUWY1BL As sh'own in Fig-i 4; the friction member com: prises a backingmember 8 0i solid metal such as? sheetkstee'l and'ii ict'iOn surfaces 9'and H. The? hacking member comprises-a-fiat base portion I2" prov-med witl'i f'our upstanding portions. At the? ends-of; the base'iare disposed the upwardly ex-' tendingiend members Band M to the outer faces"? of whichlare secured the friction'facings 9 and Hi As is clear from- Eig'; 3 ,'-the'upstanding member's? I3 and M are dlsposed at an angle with respect: to' the b'ase lZ-i This anglei's the same as that! of th'e inner faces lt' of the conventional v -pulley I] as shown in Fig. 3.

Extending upwardly from the centerof'the. Base portion l Z 'are the oppositelycurvedmembers l 8=' and l Q Which are adapted to engage adj a'cent: rollers I of the chain it'o' maintain the attachment" in place. Asshownii'n Figs; 41and'5, these'me'ni hers I 8*an'd f l 9' ar'e' extensions'of the'b'ase l2, being provided with rounded-junctionportions 21 and vertical portionsilt ahd'are oflesswidth than: the length of the base'portion l2'so as to provider s-p'ace'betweenthemembers" la and" l9 and the upstanding members l3? and [4' for reception of? the'side-links of the rollers chain. The*attach-' ment as produced ha's theifform shown in Figs; 4* and-'51" In -Fig: 5', the attachment is shown at the: time' of insertion iii place betweeri the rollers or thechain. A-fter insertiomthe upstanding por'-'- tio'ns 22 o'f thememloers I 8- and fl 9 "are swaged over so as to conform to' the curvature iof the 'rollersyv aehievirigthefinali configuration shown in' Fig; 2.

Although in Figs? 1i= to 5; the upstanding pore tioris 8 and l 9 are' cuiwe'd 'so' 'as to fit the adjacent sides. of 'adj acent rollers, it is apparent 1 that the: members may be reversely curved and so: dil'nen sioned as to embrace-' the outer sides 'of' adj acent rollers so as to cleirnp the" rollers between' the portion's 'rather than to'rplace the "portions 'between" the ro'llers -a's-shown.'

In I the-example "selected, the base l2 together:

3 and I9 comprise a one-piece stamping which is bent to the shape illustrated, but it is apparent that a multipart construction can be used.

The friction facings 9 and II comprise sintered mixtures of metallic and nonmetallic powders integrally brazed or bonded to the face of each upstanding portion l3 and I4, although it is apparent that the friction facings may instead be brazed or bonded to separate sheet metal backings which are in turn secured to the upstanding portions [3 and M.

The facings may be composed of any suitable metal powder mixture having the requisite strength and frictional properties for the particular application involved. One mixture that is suitable comprises:

Cu 67 Sn 5 Pb 9 Fe '7 C '7 SiOz 5 This mixture may be pressed and sintered and brazed to the upstanding portions in any suitable manner. I have found that the following process is suitable for producing the friction element of Figs. 4 and 5.

The sheet metal backing member 8 comprising the base portion i2 and the upstanding portions it, i i, 58, and I9 is cut from a fiat sheet as by stamping. It is then suitably cleaned and given a thin electroplating of copper to a thickness of about .0902". A metal powder mixture such as given above is pressed under a pressure of 11 tons per square inch to form thin briquettes of the size of the facings desired. Two facings are then placed on the stamped backing member 8 and held there under a pressure of about 100 pounds per square inch while the whole is heated to a temperature of from 1400 F. to 1600 F., preferably 1450 F., for a suificient length of time to sinter the mixture and to cause it to braze or bond to the sheet metal backing member. After this is accomplished, the flat sheet metal backing member with the facings secured thereto is formed to the configuration shown in Fig. 4.

The exact dimensions of the attachment 2 and of the angles of inclination of the upstanding portions l3 and I4 will vary according to the size of the roller chain selected. However, these roller chains are of standard construction and dimensions and there are relatively few sizes in commercial use so that a small assortment of sizes of attachments will sufiice for general use.

From the above description, it is apparent that the attachment 2 cooperates with the roller chain 1 to produce a flexible belt having friction surfaces located at the sides thereof. The whole construction is metallic and is capable of sustaining relatively heavy loads. The flexible chain can be used as a conventional drive for V-type pulleys, but I have found that it is particularly effective in certain special applications. The flexible belt is of use in braking applications running in oil and is very useful in adjustable speed drives in which the tension of the belt is utilized to force apart the sides of the V of a special pulley to permit the belt to attain a smaller radius on the pulley and a consequent change in speed.

It is apparent that my general idea is capable of other forms and embodiments than that shown in Figs. 1-5 and that it is merely essential to provide a flexible metallic belt having metallic friction elements providing friction surfaces at the 4 sides of the belt. Thus, in Figs. 6 and '7, I have illustrated a modification in which the conventional roller chain 26 is modified by providing friction members or washers generally designated at 21. In this construction, the special pins 23 replace the usual pins of the chain and serve to retain the friction members 21 in position. These friction members comprise a thin solid metal backing member 29 having a counter sunk hole 3| for reception of the pin 28. Integrally bonded to the outer face of the backing member 29 is a sintered metal friction facing 32 having a hole 33 through the center thereof in alignment with the outer diameter of the counter sunk portion of the backin member 29.

The facing 32 is of truncated cone construction and has an inclined face 34. The angle of this face is approximately the same as the angle of the side flange of the V-pulley in which the belt is to engage;

In order to prevent rotation of the friction members 2?, a locking pin 30 is placed in aligned holes in the sheet metal backing 29 and outer links of the chain.

In Figs. 8 and 9, I have illustrated a further modification in which the flexible belt is made from a series of pivotally connected links as distinguished from a roller chain. Pairs of outside links 38 are pivotally connected by inside links 3! through the medium of pins 38. The outside links 36 are provided with friction members comprising facings 39 of sintered powder metal which are integrally secured as by brazin or welding to the outer faces of the links. As is clear from Fig. 9, these sintered facings are triangular prisms having inclined faces 4|, 42 which are disposed at an angle corresponding to the angle of the faces of the pulley. These facings 39 are provided with holes 43 for reception of the heads of the counter sunk pins 38.

It is apparent that the modifications shown in Figs. 6 and 8 have the added advantage that the flexible belt shown is capable of reverse operation. Due to the fact that the friction facings are symmetrical in cross section, the flexible belt may be used in applications in which it passes around one pulley, and then passes around another pulley, the centers of the two pulleys being on opposite sides of the belt. Such an operation is not possible with the structure of Figs. 1 to 3, nor with the usual nonmetallic V-belt.

In the construction shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the friction members 39 are brazed directly to the outside links, but it is apparent that they can instead be brazed to separate sheet metal backing members which are in turn secured to the links by riveting or brazing.

Generally, the flexible belt of my invention is not applicable to pulleys of small diameter since the friction surfaces of the friction members are not too well adapted to mate with a conical surface; however, it is apparent that after a short wearing-in period, the friction surfaces will mate satisfactorily with the machine element which the belt is adapted to engage.

While I have illustrated several modifications of my invention, it is apparent that other and further modifications will occur to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A flexible belt comprising alternate pairs of inner and outer links, pins and rollers pivotally connected about said links to form a link and roller chain capable of flexible movement in a plane, a friction drive member carried by each pair of links, each member comprising a base portion of solid metal having upwardly extendmg, oppositely curved arms embracing adjacent rollers of the chain and outwardly and upwardly extending arms disposed at the outer sides of said links, said last mentioned arms being provided with an outer facing of sintered metal powder.

2. An attachment for a link and roller chain comprising a substantially rectangular base member, end members extending upwardly and outwardly from the ends of the base member and having a sintered metal facing on the outer sides thereof, and side members extending upwardly from the sides of the base member and adapted to engage adjacent rollers of a link and roller chain, each said side member being of lesser width than the length of said base member and disposed centrally of said sides of the base member.

3. A flexible belt comprising alternate pairs of inner and outer links, pins and rollers pivotally connected about said links to form a link and roller chain capable of flexible movement in a plane, a friction drive member carried by each pair of links, each member comprising a base portion of solid metal having upwardly extending, oppositely curved arms embracing adjacent rollers of the chain and outwardly and upwardly extending arms disposed at the outer sides of said links, said last mentioned arms being proso REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 959,532 Heisman May 31, 1910 1,424,! 68 Mesinger Aug. 8, 1922 1,476,603 Firminger Dec. 4, 1923 2,178,527 Wellman Oct. 31, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 278,164 Germany Sept. 30, 1914 327,694 Great Britain Apr. 8, 1930 

